A number of hospitals now send information booklets or leaflets to their patients before they are admitted to the wards, and early in 1962 the King's Fund decided to conduct a survey to find out the extent to which such patients' booklets are in fact being issued by hospitals and whether there is any scope for their improvement or more widespread use. In the course of the survey, it was found that there is a great variety both in the content and in the manner of presentation of information for patients before or after admission to hospital. The chief purpose of this report is to indicate what seem to be the best features of many different individual booklets and to offer them for consideration by any hospital authorities that may be contemplating the preparation or revision of information booklets for their patients.